3‘1.“ ‘
\r.
Harbor
1 761C HON c‘vei Ywm‘YC,CV(‘n m we {unsanh \vtu‘n 1 VIC l Will
t‘er HJt‘s N‘tOMt‘ (v\‘D.
The graphic novel adaptation of Paul Auster’s metaphysical story CITY OF GLASS is being reissued on its tenth anniversary. So why, Miles Fielder wonders, hasn’t there been much more of this kind of thing?
konolongosplatt.‘ 'l‘hat's what :\rt ‘ Spiegelman calls the graphic noyel adaptation of Paul .-\ttstet"s lauded noyella ('z'ty (MU/ass. You won‘t lind a delinition of that oddly eyocatiye word in the Oxford Dictionary hut Spiegelman. the Pulit/er Pri/e-winning creator ol‘ the Holocaust cotnic .lluux. takes his lead l‘rom .-\u.stet”s hla.V with L'r-language (or primitiye language). to mean something like ‘writing with pictures‘. Furthermore. Spiegelman proclaims that the comic stripped (‘in of Glass “offers one ol‘ the richest demonstrations to date of the modern lkonolongosplatt'. Written by Paul Karasik and drawn hy Dayid
Mal/.ttccltelli (hoth with .-\uster's input). (in of.
14 THE LIST emf—8 701‘
(ilusx was hailed hy The (twins Journal as one ol the ‘l()() most important comics ol' the century". Now. it is heing reissued hy l‘aher on its tenth anniyersary'. and 2t) years on l‘rom :\Ltster's classic The New )iu'A lit/ugly. where the tale originally appeared.
In .-\tister‘_s original story. a down-on-his-luck writer of detectiye liction named Daniel Quinn gets a call from a Peter Stillman who mistakes the hack for a ‘real’ priyatc eye called l’aul .-\tister. Stillman wants protection l'rom his lather. also named Peter Stillman. who locked his son away from the world until the age ol nine in an el‘l‘on to return to the original. prelapsarian language ol‘ (iod and who has just heen released from a mental asylum.
No one has eyer had a had word to say ahout ls'arasik and .\la//ucchelli‘s pared-down. hlack and white. noirish retelling ol .'\llslcl‘\ existentialist mystery. lndccd. in his insightl'ul comparison hctw'een the prose and the comic
lfr'yom/ I/l(’ (ii/y [1mm (see w ww.ninthart.coml. essayist (‘liris likman writes: 'lt‘s one ol those rare adaptations that improye on the original. .lust the \lllll in media was a change lor the hcttcr. ()ne ol~ .-\tistc‘t"s themes was the limitations ol' language. hut he had only language with which to conyey it. Add pictures and pictograms to the mix. and things get ycry interesting.‘
You’d think. giyen the uncrring praise l'or Karasik and .\la//ucchelli’s achieyement. there would he shell—loads til plcltigl'ttpltic pt‘tisc adaptations in hiin street hookstores. You'd think altet'natiyc (read: adult) comics creators would he haranguing their puhlishers (or \ ice yersal to let them haye a crack at eyery acclaimed noyelist. iron] the last Booker l’ri/e winner all the way hack to ('eryantes. I mean. they ‘re called graphic IlUl'('/\ let'clil‘lssztls‘cs.
But no. (iraphic noyels la term coined hy recently departed comics yeteran Will liisner upon puhlishing l‘)77's seminal .-l ('mzmu'r with (;()(/l may he comic hooks that boast the narratiye and thematic complexity ol its prose cousin; they may he puhlished in the prestige hardhack or trade lormats ol noyels: and they may he recognised hy' the mainstream media with (hunt/run l‘iirst Book Award wins (such as ('hris \Vat‘e's Jimmy ('orriguui: hut today‘s
\‘c‘l'slttlis.